Judith Yaross Lee
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617036439
- eISBN:
- 9781621030577
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617036439.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
Samuel L. Clemens lost the 1882 lawsuit declaring his exclusive right to use “Mark Twain” as a commercial trademark, but he succeeded in the marketplace, where synergy among his comic journalism, ...
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Samuel L. Clemens lost the 1882 lawsuit declaring his exclusive right to use “Mark Twain” as a commercial trademark, but he succeeded in the marketplace, where synergy among his comic journalism, live performances, authorship, and entrepreneurship made “Mark Twain” the premier national and international brand of American humor in his day. So it remains in ours, because Mark Twain’s humor not only expressed views of self and society well ahead of its time, but also anticipated ways in which humor and culture coalesce in today’s postindustrial information economy—the global trade in media, performances, and other forms of intellectual property that began after the Civil War. This book traces four hallmarks of Twain’s humor that are especially significant today. Mark Twain’s invention of a stage persona comically conflated with his biographical self lives on in contemporary performances by Garrison Keillor, Margaret Cho, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart. The postcolonial critique of Britain that underlies America’s nationalist tall tale tradition not only self-destructs in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court but also drives the critique of American Exceptionalism in Philip Roth’s literary satires. The semi-literate writing that gives Adventures of Huckleberry Finn its “vernacular vision”—wrapping cultural critique in ostensibly innocent transgressions and misunderstandings—has a counterpart in the apparently untutored drawing style and social critique seen in The Simpsons, Lynda Barry’s comics, and The Boondocks.Less
Samuel L. Clemens lost the 1882 lawsuit declaring his exclusive right to use “Mark Twain” as a commercial trademark, but he succeeded in the marketplace, where synergy among his comic journalism, live performances, authorship, and entrepreneurship made “Mark Twain” the premier national and international brand of American humor in his day. So it remains in ours, because Mark Twain’s humor not only expressed views of self and society well ahead of its time, but also anticipated ways in which humor and culture coalesce in today’s postindustrial information economy—the global trade in media, performances, and other forms of intellectual property that began after the Civil War. This book traces four hallmarks of Twain’s humor that are especially significant today. Mark Twain’s invention of a stage persona comically conflated with his biographical self lives on in contemporary performances by Garrison Keillor, Margaret Cho, Jerry Seinfeld, and Jon Stewart. The postcolonial critique of Britain that underlies America’s nationalist tall tale tradition not only self-destructs in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court but also drives the critique of American Exceptionalism in Philip Roth’s literary satires. The semi-literate writing that gives Adventures of Huckleberry Finn its “vernacular vision”—wrapping cultural critique in ostensibly innocent transgressions and misunderstandings—has a counterpart in the apparently untutored drawing style and social critique seen in The Simpsons, Lynda Barry’s comics, and The Boondocks.
Peter Toohey
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- June 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190083618
- eISBN:
- 9780190083649
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190083618.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
In Pierre Bonnard’s Self-Portrait in The Bathroom Mirror it feels as if we are in those very last successful days of Clive James or Jean-Dominique Bauby. This trio, James, Bauby, and Bonnard, are ...
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In Pierre Bonnard’s Self-Portrait in The Bathroom Mirror it feels as if we are in those very last successful days of Clive James or Jean-Dominique Bauby. This trio, James, Bauby, and Bonnard, are waiting to die. They’re still in the game. They confront in a remarkable way the problem of how to make the best of waiting despite failing vigor, illness, dread, and approaching death. They turn lingering, without much hope in the littler waiting room of life, to their own advantage. They turn dread and cautious waiting to their own advantage. I don’t believe that they solve the problem of this waiting for the end. You cannot. But they show how the experience can sometimes be transmuted from irremediable loss into inspiring gain. Bonnard could have uttered Clive James’ words: “I am restored by my decline and by the harsh awakening that it brings.” Pierre Bonnard’s words were “just because you sing doesn’t mean you’re happy.”Less
In Pierre Bonnard’s Self-Portrait in The Bathroom Mirror it feels as if we are in those very last successful days of Clive James or Jean-Dominique Bauby. This trio, James, Bauby, and Bonnard, are waiting to die. They’re still in the game. They confront in a remarkable way the problem of how to make the best of waiting despite failing vigor, illness, dread, and approaching death. They turn lingering, without much hope in the littler waiting room of life, to their own advantage. They turn dread and cautious waiting to their own advantage. I don’t believe that they solve the problem of this waiting for the end. You cannot. But they show how the experience can sometimes be transmuted from irremediable loss into inspiring gain. Bonnard could have uttered Clive James’ words: “I am restored by my decline and by the harsh awakening that it brings.” Pierre Bonnard’s words were “just because you sing doesn’t mean you’re happy.”
